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Pray for the Persecuted Church

They thought their lives would change. For two and a half years,  Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary, 58,  and his daughter, Dina Mo’otahssem, lived in hiding in Egypt, afraid for their lives. Their crime? They had converted to Christianity. Now, they are refugees in Syria since they can’t get visas allowing them to come to America or…

  On Ash Wednesday, 95-year-old Bishop Andrew Hao Jinli of Xiwanzi, who shepherded believers in the illegal, underground Catholic church in northeastern China, died of natural causes.  Security forces were mobilized to block the faithful from paying last respects or attending his funeral.     China allows adult Catholics to worship in state-sanctioned Patriotic Catholic Churches,…

The Chinese government has begun its annual observation of Lent – what has become a yearly wave of repression against Christians. “Like clockwork,” notes Brett M. Decker, editorial page editor of The Washington Times, “China’s communist government ramped up its persecution of the country’s Catholics. Every holy season, Beijing and local cadres bulldoze churches and…

An on-going battle to bring Bibles to Malaysia has taken a new twist – with a prominent Catholic bishop and the opposition political party denouncing new restrictions.   The Ministry of Home Affairs has ruled that 35,000 Bibles impounded at two Malaysian ports must be stamped with the words “For Christians Only” and carry a serial…

Twenty-three-year-old Christian convert Shoaib Assadullah asks your prayers. Jailed in Afghanistan since last year, his crime is that he converted to Christianity, then shared his newfound faith with friends.   A letter recently smuggled out portrays a young man in deep despair, suffering beatings and constant threats from other prisoners.   Following the release of…

  Motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and killed a Christian leader who was the frontrunning candidate for governor in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state. Six others died in the attack, including a 12-year-old boy. The violence came just weeks ahead of April elections that many worry could ignite simmering tensions between Christians and Muslims — particularly after a prominent Islamic…

The Arizona junior high schoolers weren’t trying to cause any problems. They just had a great idea: hey, let’s pray for the members of the U.S. Supreme Court. They were taking a walking tour of Capitol Hill with their teacher Maureen Rigo when they paused and bowed their steps. Standing on the Oval Plaza of…

Indonesian Pastor Luspida Simanjuntak says as a little girl, she wanted to be a soldier. Instead she became a preacher.   Now, she’s having to be both.   But the soldiering is done in prayer – on her knees – since she is facing a foe that is beyond her human strength to conquer.   She…

A Christian Chinese lawyer who has disappeared after being arrested by Chinese police told a human rights group that his detention and probable torture were inevitable. High-profile lawyer Jiang Tianyong, 41, who has campaigned for religious freedom in China, was seized by police on February 19. His concerned wife, Jin Bianling, has appealed to Christians…

Provocateurs are being blamed for a deadly mob attack on a suburban Cairo church and ancient monastery — and riots that have followed.   A number of Egyptians on March 10 pointed the finger at Egypt’s army for the death of 13 people killed as Coptic Christians protested the church burning. However, others blamed radicals.   The…
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